So I left Saigon for Cambodia about three weeks ago. I was on a definite food high by then, having found more local stalls and treats around Saigon and also making my first and only restaurant stop in Vietnam. The restaurant was pretty damn good, and not expensive at all. I had some amazing tuna steak cooked with lemongrass and prawns in satay sauce that were unbelievably tasty. More than that though what really struck me was the freshness of the ingredients and how simply they were cooked, with no pretention or attempt at disguising anything - just simple recipes cooked well and with fairly copious portions considering.

As I said before I wasn’t quite sure what to expect in Cambodia, of all the spots I was hitting it was the one place which cuisine I didn’t know much about. As it turned out it wasn’t the most amazing, though I did find some interesting things. Cambodian cuisine seems to be primarily Khmer in origin, which would make sense. But it’s quite different to its Thai neighbour, also Khmer in origin. Thing is there wasn’t that many Khmer spots around.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: Borneo, Cambodia, cuisine, curry, Dim Sum, eating, fish, food, Hong Kong, Indian, Khmer, Malay, Malaysia, noodles, spring rolls, travelling, Vietnam

Continuing with the beliefs that words is all good but pictures can speak volumes, I’ve got round to uploading pictures from my time in Vietnam. 3 albums on Flickr as usual, all linked below: Hanoi, Hanoi to Saigon train ride and Saigon.

Made it to the U.S safely, with a nasty dose of jetlag. Got some Malaysia and Borneo updates to do first and then will start on the good old U.S of A. It’s been ‘interesting’ so far and I’m only two days in. Jetlag is a killer though, especially crossing the dateline.

For now though enjoy the pics

Hanoi - Flickr set

Hanoi to Saigon train ride - Flickr set

Saigon - Flickr set

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written by Laurent \\ tags: beaches, food, Hanoi, markets, pictures, Saigon, South East Asia, summer, temples, travelling, Vietnam

I made it to Saigon two days ago. The train ride from Hanoi to Saigon was a lot different to what I’d expected. For some reason I guess I thought the trains would be nicer than the Beijing to Hanoi ones. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Maybe I got the wrong train after all, but while they’re good, they’re also far from modern. More like run down and shaky. Still you can’t complain. The beds are comfy enough to sleep, even if the rocking of the train would probably keep light sleepers awake. Failing that Vietnamese kids running rampant until the early hours and again from the early morning will probably be enough to stop you from sleeping.

The scenery though was a lot more amazing than anything I’d hoped for. The China to Vietnam ride was nice, but far from really captivating in terms of scenery. Maybe it was the grey skies and pollution, but while the landscapes do offer some interest and surprises going through China, they’re something entirely else in Vietnam - a lot more breathtaking, varied and impressive.

The highlight, always mentioned if you read about taking the train through Vietnam, is the leg between Hue and Da Nang, south of Hanoi and just before you reach the middle of the country. The train goes up the moutains along the coast, giving you stunning views of the coast, and if like me you’re lucky to also have sunshine and clear skies during the ride, it’s all the more hypnotic and attractive. Beautiful, unspoilt beaches give way to rugged coastlines where the forest drops into the sea, boats laze in the bays, and small towns pop up in the mountains and the coast, giving you an insight into countryside life in Vietnam. This leg of the journey lasts maybe about 2 or 3 hours, and if you take the 7pm train from Hanoi, it starts at around 9am, the perfect way to start a long day on the train.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: food, Ho Chi Minh City, markets, people, Saigon, sculptures, sights, smells, sounds, south, South East Asia, temples, travelling, Vietnam

Without a doubt one of the reasons and motivations behind my trip, apart from wanting to take a break and see the world, is food. Having the chance to try out local dishes, taste new flavours, discover new things as well as see markets, ingredients and just how people are around food, is something I really love. It was a big reason behind my move to Japan, and I indulged aplenty while there, and now that I’m travelling around South East Asia it’s still one of the things that gets me really excited and hyped when I arrive somewhere.

I’ve been meaning to write about Japanese food in more detail, for well over 6 months now, but lazyness and life got in the way. I’ll get round to it eventually. Looking at my trip so far though, and considering I finished work at the beginning of June, my own little food oddisey started in Japan. With two weeks to kill before I left for China, a friend of mine came over for a holiday and we indulged in all manners of Japanese culinary delights, which was a great way to leave the country.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: bun, China, eating, food, Japanese Food, Peking duck, pho soup, ramen, South East Asia, spring rolls, travelling, Vietnam

I made it to Hanoi early yesterday morning after a 2 day train ride through China and the northern border between it and Vietnam.

The train ride itself was a lot nicer than I’d hoped. The train was comfortable, safe and reliable. Buying the tickets in Beijing wasn’t as tricky as I’d feared and overall it was an amazing journey, giving me a glimpse into China, even though I didn’t stop anywhere along the way. Just looking out of the window was enough to get a sense for the country - field upon fields of rice paddies interrupted by big cities, all concrete tower blocks, dust and factories. At times in the distance you’d see factories pumping out smoke, and as we got further south, jagged rocks and small mountains started to crop up, like those you see on the South East Asian coast, but strangely enough, these were all inland, a weird and fascinating sight. Amidst the fields the sights of people in traditional hats sowing seeds and picking up rice alongside ox pulling carts was a strange - a typical cliche, postcard picture but yet one that is still very true for a lot of rural China.

The cities were also pretty interesting. Having left Beijing’s oppressing pollution and strange architecture, it was actually pretty much more of the same. The influence and power of China’s communist past obviously stretching in all directions, which when you consider the size of the country is a pretty impressive feat. Most of the cities were all concrete tower blocks, dust and busy streets. Very grey, a feeling only made worse by the cloudy sky and huge amounts of smoke emanating from factories both on the outskirts of big cities and randomly found across the countryside.

Arriving in Hanoi, the feeling of chaos and noise I’d felt in Beijing only continued, and much to my surprise turned out to be a lot worse. Though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As I’m realising now one week into a month in South East Asia, once you let the chaos just flow around you and learn to walk through it rather than be stunned and scared by it, it’s really not that bad at all. I think more than anything, my time in Japan really made me forget how life in a big city can really be, and this sensation of chaos is only amplified by the relative calm and order I came to learn to live with while in Tokyo. And when I say that, it’s not that Tokyo doesn’t have its own chaos, but it really is a lot more ordered and contained  than anything I’ve seen on the Asian continent so far.

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written by Laurent \\ tags: architecture, chaos, food, Hanoi, hot, new, noise, old, smell, South East Asia, travelling, Vietnam